O Wishing my policyholders, staff, family and friends a happy and healthy New Year! Specializing in: AUTO • HOME • LIFE HEALTH • BUSINESS INSURANCE NEEDS Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® HURRY! JUST 10 DAYS REMAINING. Internet Connection Lowest Monthly Rates in Metro Detroit! 92.50 per month Unlimited Hours Attention Commercial Businesses! For every five businesses that purchase the Basic SpeedLink Com- mercial Package (Domain Name, Web Publishing and Web Site Hosting service), SpeedLink will donate equal service to a non- profit organization in the community. Synagogues Call for your Free Account! LLJ Cr) LJ_I CALL (810) 334-5492 or 335-1309 • SpeedLink A Division of Sp edNet, Inc. http://www.speedlink.net e-mail: speed@speedlink.net 53 1/2 West Huron Street, Suite 211 Pontiac, MI 48342 CC L1J F- 74 page 73 But there is a difference; all of these groups scrupulously avoid overt partisanship, and all of them are careful not to directly link the moral teachings of Ju- daism to specific political choic- es. The emphasis is on issues and positions, not parties and candi- dates, even though most Jewish groups remain allied on a day-to- day basis with the Democrats. Compare that to this year's Christian Coalition meeting, where re-electing the Republican Congress, and to a lesser extent a Republican presidential ticket, were the overarching issues, and where Democrats were treated as evil doers of almost biblical proportions. Jewish groups engage in vig- orous get-out-the-vote drives to muster support for their posi- tions; groups on the Christian right stage similar efforts, but with a different theme. They make voting for specific candi- dates and parties almost a moral and religious imperative. Increasingly, their political in- volvement suggests that there can be no loyal opposition on the key issues of the day; at its ex- tremes, it leads to the kind of ar- gument made by some anti-abortion activists in 1992 that a vote for Mr. Clinton was a vote against God. That points to another aspect of the Christian Coalition's par- tisanship: its tacit but undeni- able endorsement of the Republicans is based heavily on a bitter, angry view of the Amer- ican scene, and an endless quest for unambiguous political vil- lains. That perspective is carried to its bizarre extremes in the c--\ writings of Mr. Robertson, the founder and chairman of the Christian Coalition and a leading religious conspiracy the- orist. It's not clear how many Chris- tian Coalition activists subscribe to Mr. Robertson's descriptions of vast anti-Christian conspira- cies. But judging by the applause and the hoots of derision at this week's convention, a majority di- vide the political world into the just and the unjust, the elect and the damned, with no middle ground, There is only absolute right and absolute wrong, with liberals, government bureau- crats, "the media" and Democ- rats firmly entrenched the latter c category. Listening to the crowd's reac- tion, it becomes clear that a pure- ly political target such as the Internal Revenue Service has taken on the qualities of a moral pariah to these people — a kind of bureaucratic anti-Christ. The Christian Coalition and its allied groups are actively pur- suing the politics of negativity and blame, and they have wrapped it in religious clothing, to add to its impact and to its di- visiveness. The concept is nothing new in American life; what is new is the Christian Coalition's vast size, its efficient organization and its newfound • alliance with the movers and shakers of the land — at least those who call them- selves Republicans. ❑ exp. 9/30/96 Service performance with no busy signals and 10:1 user- to-line ratio resulting in 100% customer retention and satisfaction. All internet services included. Cr) SWINGING in our Classified Section Some Politicos Seems To Die Hard NECHEMIA MEYERS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS illiam Jennings Bryan was often ridiculed be- cause he persisted in running for president of the United States in 1908, de- spite having unsuccessfully cam- paigned for that office in 1896 and 1900. But Bryan can't hold a candle to Shimon Peres, who has lost five elections and still won't turn over the reins of the Labor Party. This is not because Mr. Peres really thinks he can lead Labor to victory in the year 2000, but because he believes that the man who beat him in 1996 will need him in a government of national unity long before the new mil- lennium rolls around. And Mr. Peres may be right. W Shimon Peres: Never say die.